Passenger conveyors are well known. Moving walkways and escalators are used for carrying people between landings at different locations within buildings, for example. Most passenger conveyors include a handrail that moves along with the moving surface that carries the passengers. The handrail provides a gripping surface for passengers to grasp onto while traveling on the conveyor.
Traditionally, handrails have been driven using pinching roller style arrangements. Frictional engagement with forces applied to both sides of the handrail is required for such a drive arrangement to work. These have been recognized as being disadvantageous, at least in part, because the pinching rolls on the exterior surface of the handrail tend to scratch and wear that surface down causing replacement sooner than otherwise desired. It has been proposed to introduce alternative drive arrangements including a positive drive connection between teeth on a handrail and a suitably arranged drive member. Such arrangements are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,725 and the Published United States Patent Application US/2005/0173224.
One challenge associated with such a handrail is how to effectively manufacture it to achieve the various features associated with such a handrail. For example, the location of teeth for driving the handrail is where a sliding fabric layer has traditionally been placed. Some modifications to manufacturing techniques are needed.